For a lot of us, the aftermath of Sandy ended with the restoration of power, but for many, the cleanup and recovery is really only just starting.

As we returned to Staten Island to clean and demolish my parents flooded basement, we passed by countless houses and neighborhoods just absolutely crushed by the surge waters from Sandy. Major damage to houses, cars on top of fire hydrants, dirt and soot everywhere. Add that on top of no electricity, heat, or cell reception and it makes for a pretty dire situation.

The above photos are the garbage piles in front of my parents house and on the rest of the block. We were actually luckier than the surrounding blocks since ours was slightly higher. Imagine what happened to the other houses.

even just a reblog would help – many people still don’t know the extent of the damage and recovery efforts

This stuff means a ton – we had countless encounters with not only the NYPD and National Guard handing out food and water, but regular civilians making home cooked meals (or buying food – we got Little Caesar’s pizza 🙂 and going door to door to asking if anyone needs anything warm to eat. We even had a couple from Williamsburg biking around handing out cleaning supplies they bought themselves.

Other ways to help outlined here, includes donating your time, food and cleaning supplies, space for small businesses, and blood.